Zhui ying (2009)

Directors:

Marco Mak
Francis Ng

Release Date:

30 July 2009 (China)

Genre:

Action | Comedy

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Jaycee Chan
Hao Dang
Francis Ng	...	Ye he chang gong
Pace Wu	...	Ming yue xin
Na Xie

Also Known As:

Tracing Shadow (International: English title)

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

China

Language:

Mandarin

Color:

Color

Certification:

Singapore:PG

Company:

Huayi Brothers

National Treasure: Book of Movies

I saw this with "Riders of the Whistling Skull," which I swear I first saw decades ago. It was a movie about movies without self-knowledge. This is the opposite. It is from Hong Kong, possibly the most introspective film source we have (after Barcelona). The story is an Indiana Jones bit, just like the Whistling Skull: a treasure with cryptic clues that needs a woman to translate.

Isn't that always the way? The men fight and dig and make the rationale, but the women see and know.

The gimmick here is that all the key male characters look like famous kung fu actors. They have similar names as well, and many of the jokes are built on this in the story. This element makes it mildly interesting: the deliberate, overt movie about movies, with as many weaves as can be made, from other movies, references and characters as famous actors (not famous characters).

Francis Ng, who wrote directed and stars, apparently specializes in this.

Pace Wu is lovely.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.